To Find Peace, And Then Sell It

As the month of Ramadan nears, shop owners in Sanaa’s old city souk stock up on goods. For men like Ali Al-Fakri, who sells jambiyahs, Yemen’s traditional daggers held in place with richly embroidered belts, the gift-giving holiday marking Ramadan’s end is the busiest time of the year.

Confrontation Builds Up in Cairo

Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's first turbulent year in office will end with two massive rallies in Cairo, both expected to draw hundreds of thousands: one by his mostly Islamist supporters and another by secular opposition forces who demand he step down.

Egypt Split ‘Between Egyptians and Islamists’

The Muslim Brotherhood realised a long cherished dream when it came to power last year. The Muslim Brotherhood had faced continuing discrimination since former president Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power in 1956 until the end of Hosni Mubarak’s days.

OP-ED: Why Bahrain’s Al-Khalifa Family Is Losing the Right to Rule

By continuing its repressive policies and refusing to engage civil society and moderate political groups in meaningful dialogue for genuine reform, the Khalifa family has squandered its legitimate right to rule Bahrain. King Hamad could still salvage his rule, but he would need to act boldly by taking the following steps.

Creating Their Own Spring

The soldiers of former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi had left just a few days before, but a group of about 50 children were already singing in the Amazigh language in the village of Yefren, 110 kilometres south of Tripoli. This month will mark two years since the establishment of the first Amazigh school in Libya.

Young Yemen Multiplies Without Growth

Yemen’s population is increasing at a rapid rate, straining the country’s dwindling natural resources and setting up its youth for a grim future, with few jobs and scant means to get by.

Asylum Seekers Struggle to Survive Under Israeli Restrictions

Tesfahiwet Medin holds a university degree and experience as a nurse. But six years after escaping the violent dictatorship in his native Eritrea, the 39-year-old says he feels like a part of him is missing, as he's been prevented from continuing in his profession in Israel.

Egypt Sees a Dam Confrontation

Ethiopia's diversion of part of the Blue Nile late last month has both rocked Cairo's relations with Addis Ababa and provided fodder for Egypt's ongoing war of attrition between its Islamist government and secular opposition.

Egypt Marks a Spring for Islamists

Egyptians are deeply divided and the majority are dissatisfied with the performance of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, but also have little confidence in the main opposition figures or their future, a new poll has found.

U.S., EU Urged to Press Harder for Reform in Bahrain

Human rights groups here are calling for the United States and the European Union (EU) to exert more pressure on Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, to seriously engage its opposition and end its repression of its majority Shi'a population.

U.N. Urges Turkish Police to Exercise “Restraint”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay have advised “maximum restraint” following media reports of a violent police crackdown on peaceful protestors in Istanbul’s Gezi Park.

Border Weakens Between Bombs and Cherries

It all happened within ten days – Syria’s civil war fought metres away from Israeli orchards abutting the ceasefire line; Austrian peacekeepers hastily evacuating the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that separates Israel from Syria; fears of a total collapse of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). All while the cherry-picking season is at its peak.

Kurds Advance, Into the Unknown

A ban on political and even social gatherings, a bar on Kurdish language and culture; uprooting people, forced disappearances and a ‘caste’ of hundreds of thousands of local Kurds deprived of citizenship... life for Kurds in pre-war Syria was probably as dire as it is today for their kin in Iran.

Washington Mulls Surprise Rouhani Victory in Iran Vote

The surprise victory of Hassan Rouhani in Iran's Jun. 14 election has provoked a range of reactions here, ranging from cautious optimism about possible détente between Tehran and Washington to outright rejection of the notion that his presidency will produce any substantive change in policy, foreign or domestic.

Fatwas Heighten Sectarian Tensions in Syria Conflict

Saudi Arabian religious scholars are leading an increasingly vocal chorus of Islamic preachers who are urging Muslims and Arabs to support Syrian rebels against what they say are atrocities at the hands of Iran-backed Shiite forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Iranians Vote for Hope and a Change of Course

Iran's Jun. 14 presidential election results, announced the day after voting was held, were nothing less than a political earthquake.

Despite Arms Announcement, U.S. Syria Strategy Remains Unclear

Despite Thursday's announcement that President Barack Obama has decided to provide direct military assistance to Syrian rebels, what precisely the administration has in mind remains unclear.

Obama to Increase “Scope and Scale” of Aid to Syrian Rebels

With U.S. intelligence agencies' concluding that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebel forces, the White House announced Thursday that it will increase "the scope and scale" of assistance it has been providing to the opposition, including direct support to its military arm.

U.N. Says 93,000 People Killed in Syria

At least 93,000 people were killed in Syria's conflict by the end of April this year, but the true number could be "potentially much higher", the United Nations human rights office says.

Iran’s Reform-Centre Alliance Will Transcend Election

The decision by the reformist candidate Mohammadreza Aref to withdraw his candidacy - and in effect open the path for the centrist Hassan Rowhani to become the unified candidate of both the centrists and reformists - is an important development in Iranian politics.

Economic Issues Murky As Iranians Go to Polls

Talking to ordinary people in Neishabour and Tehran about Iran's Jun. 14 presidential election, economic issues seem foremost on their minds. But whom they will vote for is based more on vague promises to pull the economy out of its deep crisis than on well-defined economic programs.